Daryl and Arianna
by felicia2235
Summary: Arianna and her god daughter Abby save Merle in Atlanta and they join the group. Daryl gets the love and family he always wanted while Arianna helps Merle become a better person. Will be mature content. Daryl/Oc and Merle/Beth. Don't like don't read.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay so I have become addicted to the Walking dead. Especially Daryl. Yum. Lol. I love the fierce warrior blade wielding Michonne but I just don't think her and Daryl would be good together. Plus I was mad when Merle was killed. So I'm going to create a new character named Arianna that will be more Daryl's type and have a similar past as he does. This will be a Daryl/OC story as well as a Merle/Beth story. If you don't like don't read. This will be mature content and rude reviews will be deleted. I will follow some of the story line from the TV show but not all of it. Just an FYI this will be mature content. And I will update as much as I can between work and my new baby. Thanks for reading.**

**I don't own anything. **

Chapter 1

Arianna wiped walker guts off the blade of her Katana as she slipped out the back door of a building on the out skirts of Atlanta where she had gone for supplies. Loading everything into the back of the car where her 10 year old god daughter was waiting for her she closed the hood, filled the car with the gas she was able to find and was about to get in to head out of the city when she heard someone yelling.

"Help me. Don't leave me here." A male voice said from somewhere in the distance. She heard the sound of screeching tires and an alarm before there was silence again.

"Ari what was that?" Her goddaughter Abby ask in alarm.

"Not sure honey." She told her.

"Nooo. Come back. Help." She heard it again and the good person inside her just couldn't leave without checking to see if she could find the voice.

Sighing and slamming her car door shut she shouldered her Katana, grabbed her bag and checked for her knife strapped to her leg and made sure her small pistol was on her side she started making her way toward the yelling, Abby trailing along behind her carefully.

Took them 15 mins dodging walkers to find the building the screams where coming from and they realized the person was on the roof so she let Abby go first and they climbed up the fire escape.

When she got to the top she saw a man handcuffed to the building yelling for help. She observed him for a moment, keeping Abby behind her the whole time. He was older, with short buzzed hair; he was dressed like a mix between a biker and a redneck and was talking to himself.

"Must be high." She mumbled to herself. She had a lot of experience with men on drugs thanks to her father so she could spot a druggie a mile away.

"Is he ok." Abby whispered and Arianna shrugged.

"Um sir." Arianna said getting the man's attention.

"You there. Girl come help me." He demanded and Arianna raised her brow at him and put her hands on her hips not moving.

"Please." He added sighing when he saw she wasn't very responsive to demands.

"You got a name first?" she ask him moving closer to him and removing her bag off her shoulder. Merle was able to get a better look at her then and he finally saw the child with her.

The women was defiantly a beautiful women. Not exactly his type she was a little too curvy for him. He liked his women boney as Daryl called them. This women was short, small waist but had a pin up girl type figure, long dark brown hair and pale skin. Perfect for his brother Merle thought in his head. His brother loved this type of body on a women. The little girl had curly light brown hair and was clutching to the women tightly.

"Merle Dixon. What's yalls name sugar?" he ask and she kneeled down in front of him, the shy child staying behind her.

"I'm Arianna Williams and this is my god daughter Abby. So how the hell did you end up hand cuffed to this roof?" She ask him.

"I guess I got alittle out of hand with my group and some cop hand cuffed me here to calm me down. But then they rushed out of her and the black ass hole dropped the key. So I was left behind." He told her and Ari could tell he knew what he did was wrong but he'd be damned if he admitted it to the ones that left him.

"Can you help me out? I need to get back to my brother?" he ask. Arianna stared at him for a moment for sighing.

"I'll see what I can do. It's going to be dark soon so we may have to wait till morning to get you out but let's see." She told him and tried for over an hour to pick the lock with no luck. She finally gave up when he yelled out in pain again.

"Okay let's stop till in the morning. Give you a break." She said.

"You can't leave me here." He pleaded and Arianna felt really bad for this man. It was obvious a lot of people didn't like him due to his crass attitude stopped them from really getting to know him but she wasn't scared of him and she had dealt with worse men in her life.

"We're not going anywhere. Will stay and I'll keep watch. Here drink and eat this. Your dehydrated." She told him and handed him a bottle of water and granola bars. She handed Abby the same before standing and walking the building to check for dangers.

Merle drank and ate what she gave him quickly having not eaten or drank anything since he left camp. Wiping his mouth he watched the little girl finish her meal in silence before noticing the women didn't eat herself.

"Aint you gonna eat?" he ask and she glanced at him before going over and sticking a screw driver into the lock on the door to prevent walkers from getting in.

"I'll find something in the morning after we get you lose." She told him and Merle realized she gave him her share of the food she had and he felt bad for the first time in his life. No one had ever gave a damn about him or his brother to do something like give up there last bit of food to save him. This woman was saving his life and he decided he really liked this girl. She was different.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Morning came quickly and Arianna had kept watch all night. She couldn't remember the last time she really slept always keeping watch over Abby, afraid if she slept something bad would happen. When the world went to hell she had been watching Abby at her apartment for the night so her parents could have a romantic evening. But when the dead starting attacking Arianna and Abby had raced over to Abby's house to try and get her parents but they were too late. They had been bit. Her mother had shot her father and was waiting to see Abby one last time before making Ari promise to always protect her daughter to which Ari agreed before ending her life before she could turn. Since then it had been just her and Abby traveling around trying to find a safe place.

"Ok let's get you out of here so you can get back to your brother." She said when Merle and Abby woke up.

To pass the time and try to keep his mind off the cuts on his wrist that she knew were killing him not to mention the withdrawal he was having from his drug use, she kept him talking. Telling him all about her life. Why she did that she had no clue but it just kinda came out and it felt good to talk to someone, even if it was a stranger.

"So after I was released from the hospital from my father trying to kill me I ran away. Lived on the streets until I met Abby's mother who took pity on me and gave me a place to stay. Got me a job and gave me a new life." She finished up her story and Merle was shocked. She had the same childhood that he and Daryl had.

"What happened to the bastard?" Merle ask.

"Went to jail when he was arrested for selling drugs. Died in jail." She told him and he felt sick knowing that just yesterday he was high on meth beating up his group because he couldn't control himself. What if she had been there too? What if he had hurt her or the little girl? God he had to get off that shit before he killed someone.

"Good. My Pa was the same. Use to beat on me and my brother until we finally left." Merle told her and Ari nodded.

"Guess we have a lot in common." She told him and before he could reply the door to the roof flew open.

"Merle. Merle" His brother screamed.

"Hey get away from him." He heard Daryl yell and before he could say anything Arianna yelled out in pain and Merle looked over to see a bolt from Daryl's crossbow sticking out of her bicep.

"No damn it boy, what the fuck. She was helping me. Saved my life. Shit." Merle yelled when his brothers shocked face came into view. Abby was kneeling over Ari crying.

"You fucking shot me. Dickhead. Damn." Arianna said stunned as she clutched her arm. Merle was jerking at his cuffs to try and get over to help her and Abby was refusing to let anyone near her god mother.

"Go get away from her." Abby yelled at Glenn and Rick who had tried to see if they could help. Seeing how upset the child was they backed away not wanting to make it worse.

"I. I thought she was a walker or something. Shit." Daryl tried to explain, starting to pace. He felt horrible for shooting an innocent women who was just trying to help his brother. Damn it.

"Let me loose so I can see to her." Merle yelled at officer friendly when it seemed no one was moving to do anything.

"Before I let you lose are we going to have any problems?" Rick ask. Merle glared at him but shook his head no.

"Naw. Just let me out." He replied and Rick did as he ask. Daryl watched in stunned silence as his brother a man that helps no one crawled over towards this strange women and tried to calm her and the little girl down.

"Hey now. I'm sorry about my brother. He didn't mean to. He reacted without thinking. A lot like me. Will ya let me see if I can pull it out?" Merle ask her. Arianna was lying against the side of the building holding her arm while Abby was wrapped around her crying into her other shoulder.

Nodding Ari lowered her hand so Merle could look at her arm ignoring his painful wrist. He was glad she was wearing sleeveless shirt so he was able to see that the bolt only pierced a small chunk of flesh on her outer bicep.

"Yall got a first aid kit or something?" he ask and Abby nodded before climbing out of Ari's lap and going over towards Ari's bag, but not before kicking Daryl in the shins on the way over.

"Fuck." Daryl grunted when this little kid kick the shit out of him.

Merle and the others laughed as he grunted in pain but didn't dare say anything to the child. Knowing he deserved much more than that.

"We're going to need to pull it out before bandaging it up. It's going to hurt like hell." He told her while ordering his brother to come help him. Arianna eyed Daryl as he kneeled down next to his brother. She could tell in his eyes he truly was sorry so she wasn't too angry with him. Plus he was a fine piece of strong southern man so that helped some.

"I've had worse. Go ahead." She told him and he nodded. Knowing what she meant. Daryl gave a confused look.

"Had a father like ours." Merle told him quickly before snapping one end of the bolt in half to make it easier to pull out. Daryl was shocked at this new info and wondered just how bad her childhood really was if Merle was comparing her father to their bastard dad.

"Can we help?" Rick ask as he, Glenn and T dogg stood to the side watching as the two mean ass rednecks worked to heal this women they didn't even know.

"Nope." Merle told them.

"Alright little brother. I'm going to yank it out and you put pressure on it." He told Daryl who nodded.

"Sorry." Daryl mumbled to Ari who gave a short nod. Bracing herself she gritted her teeth and waited for Merle to pull it out.

"Here we go." Merle said and yanked the bolt out as fast as he could. To all there surprise she didn't scream but they could all clearly see the pain on her face. Daryl acted fast and put pressure on her arm as soon as the bolt was freed.

"There you go." Merle told her as he wrapped her wound. She thanked him before grabbing the first aid kit from him.

"Your wrist now." She demanded. He opened his mouth to say he was fine but then saw the look on her face and decided against arguing with this stubborn woman who had saved his ass and took a bolt in the arm for her troubles.

"Fine." He grumbled to her.

Once she was done she packed up her things while the other guys discussed how to go about getting a bag of guns off the street.

"Well we'll be going now." Ari said grabbing Abby's hand and pulling her towards the latter they had used the day before.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"What. No you can't go." Merle told her and she raised an eye brow at him. Daryl stood back and watched smirking as this women stared down his brother.

"Excuse me." She replied to him.

"I didn't mean you can't. You can but you shouldn't leave." He tried to explain.

"You'll find I'm not the kind of women that likes to be told what to do." She told him and Rick decided to try and help.

"You could come join us. You helped one of our own and have been clearly taking care of yourself. We could use you. We have other women and children as well." Rick told her and she turned her attention to him.

"Well from what I've seen so far you hand cuff people to roofs and leave them to starve to death and I've been shot for just trying to help. Why the hell would I want to join your group." She said and before they could reply Abby tugged on her hand.

"What boo?" Ari bent down to see what she wanted.

"Can we go with them?" she whispered but everyone heard her.

"Why?" Ari ask her.

"They have kids I could play with and we wouldn't be alone. You could actually sleep if there were others around, you wouldn't have to worry so much. Please." Abby begged and Ari sighed. She couldn't tell her no.

"Ma am. I know your impression of us is really bad right now but we really are good people." Rick told her when it was clear the little girl was really worried about her care taker having to do everything on her own.

"Come on sugar. At least give it a try." Merle told her and she eyed him for a moment before replying.

"I'll give it a try on one condition." She said.

"Name it." Merle told her.

"You stay sober." She told him and Daryl snorted.

"What?" Merle ask, shooting a glare at his brother..

"You stay sober. I refuse to put myself around drug addict men again. That's the deal. Take it or leave it." She told him crossing her arms over her chest. Daryl was sure his brother was about to tell her to fuck off but to his shock he nodded.

"Alright." He agreed and they were all floored. Who they hell was this girl to get Merle to agree to stay sober. They were grateful for sure but still floored.

"I have a car around the corner with some supplies in it. I'll need to go get it." She told them and Rick nodded.

"We can get it after we get the bag of guns." He told her.

"So what's the plan?" she ask.

The plan was the she and Abby would stay on the roof since she was hurt and they didn't want Abby in harm's way. The guys were going down to retrieve the guns.

After that it was a disaster. Merle and Daryl were ambushed in the alley, Glen was taken. By the time Ari and Abby made it down they were dragging a young Mexican into the office building to try and get info out of him so they could get Glenn back.

"Damn who is that?" the Mexican kid ask when Arianna and Abby came into the room they were going to question him in.

"Don't fucking worry about it." Merle growled while Daryl stood in his line of sight so he could no longer see the girls.

They left to speak to G who the young kid said was in charge. Ari paced the office waiting for them to return. When they did without Glenn and with the kid again Ari was confused.

"He wants the guns in exchange for Glenn." Rick told her.

"So what's the plan?" She ask.

"We go in locked and loaded. I'm getting Glenn back. What life I have I owed it to him." Rick explained and they all agreed to help.

"You should stay here?" Merle told her and she snorted before loading bullets into a shot gun.

"I'm done staying behind like the docile house wife. That anit me. Never was good at that domestic women shit. I'm going to help." She told them and instead of arguing with the women who it seems would win every fight anyways they agreed to let her come.

"What about the kid?" Daryl ask when they were about to leave.

"Don't worry about her. I got it." She told him handing Abby her bag to carry so she could have her hands free in case she needed to fight.

"Stay behind me the entire time." Ari told her god daughter who nodded in agreement. Ari noticed Daryl and Merle taking a stance on each side of her and Abby for protection as if it was a natural thing. Ari wouldn't admit it but she felt safe knowing they were there.

"I see my guns but they not in the bag." G said when they all entered the building

"Cause they anit yours. I thought I mentioned that." Rick told him.

"I don't think you grasp the seriousness of the situation." G told them.

"You have your man know I want mine." Rick said as he cut the kid lose.

"How about I kill you and your men and take you guns and your bitch for myself." G threatened and Ari snorted.

"You anit touching her." Merle growled from her left.

"Hey asshole. Find another place for your eyes before you lose them." Daryl said to a young Mexican boy that he could see was eyeing Arianna hard and licking his lips. As soon as Daryl said that he looked away, scared.

"You said come locked and loaded. Well we are." Rick said cocking his gun to which the others followed suit.

Before anything else could be said an old Mexican lady came in calling for her grandson.

"Get that old lady out of the line of fire." Daryl told them.

"Don't take Felipe he's a good boy." She told rick.

"Ma'am I'm not here to arrest him. We need help looking for our friend." Rick told her.

"The Asian boy. Come I take you to him." She said grabbing his hand and leading everyone through the building.

"You think you can handle a gun that big, chicka." The young Mexican that was eyeing her earlier ask as he walked near her. Shifting her gun and pointing it at his crotch she smirked.

"Wanna see?" she ask him and he paled and jogged away from her as Merle and Daryl snorted in laughter.

When they got inside where she was leading him they noticed it was a retirement home filled with old people.

"What the hell?" Ari said to herself as she looked around. This was not what she expected.

They found Glenn alive and well trying to help an old man with his inhaler. Rick and G talked before Rick gave him a few guns. Daryl and Merle thought he was nuts but it was his call. His guns.

"Well I need to get back to my car. I can meet yall somewhere." She told them and they agreed to let Merle and Daryl go with her and they would meet back at the box truck they drove into the city.

"Whoa sugar you got quite the stash." Merle whistled as he looked into her trunk, stealing a pack of cigarettes and lighting one. She had a trunk full of water and food. Not to mention some clothes for her and Abby and sleeping bags and some camping stuff.

"Yeah we've been collecting as we go. Yall's camp could use his food I'm sure." She said handing Daryl the keys to drive since he was the only one who knew where the Box truck was. And snatching a cigarette for her and handing one to Daryl, since he looked like the smoking type.

"Thanks." Daryl told her savoring the cig since it had been a while since he had one.

"Here." Merle said shoving water and a granola bar in her hand.

"I have yet to see you eat anything. So eat." He ordered glaring at her. She snorted before eating quickly and making sure Abby got some as well.

"She always does that." Abby told Merle from the back seat.

"Does what little bit." He ask.

"Not eat. She always gives me her food and barley eats." Abby told him and he decided to keep an eye on his savor to make sure she didn't kill over on him from starvation.

"What the fuck." Daryl ask when they came up on the Rick, Glenn and T dogg standing by a fence where the truck should have been.

"Someone stole the truck." Rick told them as they got out of the car.

"Well we can pile into mine but it's going to be tight." She said and they all looked around wondering how the hell they were going to fit into that car.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"You can sit on my lap sugar." Merle smirked at her and she rolled her eyes.

"In your dreams redneck." She told him and he laughed as she slide into the passenger seat and into his brothers lap. Daryl blushed beet red.

"I think I'll be just fine here. That's if you don't mind. You do owe me from shooting me an all?" Ari ask a blushing Daryl who nodded and tried like hell to stop his dick from responding to her in his lap. He had noticed from the moment after they patched her up that she had the absolute most perfect body he had ever seen. His fantasy girl all the way.

Rick drove while Glenn, T-dogg and Merle squeezed in the back with Abby on Merle's lap talking away about all the books she liked to read. It helped ease the tension of the three men sitting far too close for comfort in the back.

When they got to the camp they knew something was wrong. They heard nothing but screaming and gun shots.

"Lori. Carl." Rick yelled as he ran from the car once it was parked. The others piled out seeing walkers everywhere.

"Abby stay in the car. Do not come out till I come to get you." She said and Abby nodded climbing in the front seat to watch as the guys and her god mother took off to help.

Ari threw her gun to an old man who was trying to load bullets in his riffle and she grabbed her Katana and went to work. She sliced through walker after walker. Saving a women and her young daughter who was around Abby's age and making her way towards the RV where most of the survivors were standing trying to fight them off.

Ari put her sword through the head of the last walker who was sneaking up on a man with longish dark hair that was protecting Rick's family. He turned and saw her save him and frowned.

"Who the fuck are you?" he ask and she rolled her eyes.

"Watch it pig." Merle growled but Arianna stop him from doing anything else.

"Abby come out baby." She called and they all saw a little girl come running out of the car and attach herself to the new women.

"Rick?" his wife ask nodding towards Ari.

"This is Arianna and her god daughter Abby. She saved Merle in Atlanta and will be joining us." He said and Shane snorted.

"We can't take any more people Rick." He told him but Rick's word was finally apparently.

"She stays." Merle said before stalking off towards his tent.

"Don't mind him. He's a little rude I know. Sorry but I was invited to join you. I brought some things that you may need." She said walking towards her car. Shane and some of the others followed as she popped her trunk and they were greeted with a lot of food that they really needed.

"Maybe you have room in that RV to store it so it can be rationed out to everyone. It won't last forever but it should help." She explained and Dale the owner of the RV nodded, Shane knew they needed this food and needed more people to help keep the camp safe and she was good with her sword and very nice to look at so he nodded. Agreeing she could stay.

"Thank you. For saving me and Sophia." A woman named Carol with short hair said to Ari as they were unloading the food and water from her car.

"No problem. Abby why don't you and Sophia and the boy over there color in your books while we work. If that's ok?" Ari ask Lori and Carol and they nodded watching as the three kids made instant best friends and went to color in the RV while the adults worked.

It took hours to clean up the dead that was littered everywhere. Ari saw that a blonde women who they said was named Andrea stood guard over her dead sister waiting for her to turn.

"They just leaving her like that?" Ari ask Daryl as they moved a walker into the burn pile together. He shrugged.

"I say we take the shot but I was shut down." He replied before going to help his brother, who was surprisingly working with T dogg to move the dead as well.

Arianna cringed as she saw Carol beat her husband's head in with an axe and gave Daryl a questioning look.

"Think he use to beat on her." He whispered and she nodded.

After Glenn's melt down about burying their people they sat around waiting for Amy to wake so they could bury her as well. Shane and Rick took to arguing about where they should head now that the camp ground was no longer safe.

Arianna sat between Merle and Daryl eating some lunch that Carol gave them while watching them argue.

"What do yall think?" she ask nodding to the two cops.

"Don't really matter. Neither place is going to be any help in my opinion but the CDC is closer and we done have much fuel." Merle told them and Daryl nodded in agreement with his brother.

It seemed to Arianna that she and the two Rednecks were becoming quite close. She didn't mind. She liked them both but in different ways. Merle was like the older brother she never had and always wished was there to protect her and Daryl was just a fine man she couldn't stop looking at. Either way she was a part of their little group now and glancing over towards her smiling god daughter she knew it was worth it.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"You riding with me?" Daryl told her as she loaded the rest of her and Abby's things in the back of his truck. She agreed to let them strip her car so they could take fewer vehicles to save fuel.

"Yeah. What about Merle?" she ask.

"He'll ride his bike. Come on." He said holding open the door for them to climb in.

Daryl was surprised how quiet they were on the way to the CDC. She was different than most women, she didn't feel the need to talk constantly and he enjoyed that.

"Something's wrong." She said when they stopped halfway there. Getting out they could see the RV was messing up and they were trying to figure out a way to fix the radiator.

"Jim's not doing good." Jacque came out and said. Rick went inside to talk to him for a while before returning letting them know he wanted them to leave him. After discussing it they decided to do what he wanted and they left him leaning against a tree on the side of the road.

"That's sad Ari." Abby said once they started pulling away after patching up the RV. Ari hugged her closer to her and nodded.

"Yeah Boo it is." She sighed and shared a look with Daryl before closing her eyes and letting the move of the truck caress her to sleep. Little did she know she ended up laying her head on Daryl shoulder and sleeping that way the rest of the way to the CDC with Abby sleeping with her head in to lap.

Daryl let her stay that way. His gut flipped at the sensation of her against him. Glancing over at the two girls he sighed realizing that no matter what now he'd never be able to let them go. He'd protect them and keep them safe. They were part of his family now.

Ari jerked awake when she felt Daryl shake her shoulder. Glancing up she realized she had slept on him the whole way there and he and now Merle were looking at her. Merle with a big ass annoying smirk on his face.

"Sorry." She told Daryl but he just shrugged.

"No big deal. We're here." He told her and Ari looked out the window to see nothing but a grave yard outside. Bodies everywhere.

She woke up Abby and they got out of the truck to stand near the others who too were looking at all the bodies in shock.

"Come on. Stay close and quiet." Rick told them and Ari followed with Merle and Daryl on each side of her and Abby in front of them as they walked around all the bodies making their way towards the CDC entrance.

When they got there they saw the shutters down and it appeared to be empty.

"There's nobody here." Arianna pointed out when they reached the building.

"Then why are the shutters down?" Rick ask trying to find a way inside.

"Walkers." Daryl yelled and they all turned to see the dead slowly making their way towards them.

Arianna pushed Abby behind her and pulled her sword. Daryl and Merle on either side on her aiming their weapons at the walkers.

"You led us into a death trap." Daryl yelled back.

"He made a call." Shane replied and Merle snorted.

"Well it was the wrong damn call." He yelled back as he shot a walker that was getting close.

"Shut up." Shane growled back and Arianna groaned.

"Now is so not the fucking time for this." She said walking forward and taking the head off a walker.

"Rick this is a dead end."

"We need a plan."

"Please you're killing us."

"Fort benning Rick come on."

"On what. No gas or food."

Everyone was shouting drawing more walkers to them. Daryl, Merle and Arianna took them out before they got to the group but more were coming and it was getting dark.

"We need to go bro." Merle pointed out and he nodded,

"The camera moved." Rick said and before they could run back to the cars the shutters opened and they were blinded with a bright white light.

"Ari, Merle let's go." Daryl yelled she turned to see he had picked up Abby and they were running for the building. Merle grabbed her arm and together they ran after them sliding inside last.

"Hello." Rick called out.

"Anyone infected." They heard a man ask. Looking over they saw a man dressed in scrubs holding a large gun, pointing it at them.

"One of our group was. He didn't make it." Rick replied. Ari saw that Daryl had yet to let go to Abby and she was clinging to him in fear and wouldn't let him put her down. Ari smiled the sight making her heart melt.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" the man ask.

"A chance." Rick replied.

" That's asking a lot these days." The man told them.

"I know." Rick said.

"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission." He told them and Rick nodded.

"We can do that." Rick replied.

"You got stuff to bring in do it now. Once this door closes it doesn't open again." He man told them. Daryl finally set Abby down next to Ari and ran with the guys to the cars and grabbed their stuff. Coming inside he handed Ari her bags and she thanked him.

"Rick Grimes."

"Dr. Edwin Jenner." They made introductions as he closed the shutters back and led them to the elevators.


	6. Chapter 6

chapter 6

After everyone was inside and the Doctor closed the metal doors again they all piled in the elevator and headed down.

"Were packed in here like a bunch of Mexicans." Merle whispered to Daryl and Ari. Ari elbowed him in the ribs to shut him up so no one would get offended by the racial remarks he spewed every now and then.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" asked Daryl eyes the doctors very large riffle.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself. But you look harmless enough." Dr. Jenner looked down at Carl, smiling "Except you, might have to keep my eye on you" Carl smiled back and laughed.

"Are we underground?" Carol ask nervous holding Sophia to her tightly.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner asked, looking back at her.

"A little" she nodded

"Try not to think about it" he said trying to calm her. He led them to a large control room that was empty of people but filed with tons of computers.

"Welcome to zone five." He told them as the lights came on and everyone looked around.

"Where is everyone." Andrea ask and he looked at them sadly.

"I'm all that's left." He told them and they didn't know what to say to that. Seems this was a dead end.

"This way please." He told them leading them to a smaller room where he drawled their blood.

After that they were taken to a cafeteria where Carol and Lori worked to put together a quick but very welcome meal for everyone. Merle and Daryl however hit the jackpot when they opened a cabinet and found it stocked with liquor.

"Booyah." Daryl yelled taking out two bottles of southern comfort handing one to Merle and keeping the other. Rick came behind him and grab several bottles of wine after Jenner told them to help themselves to whatever they wanted.

"Oh hell yeah." Arianna whooped when she found some Sangria.

"Thank you can handle that stuff sugar?" Merle ask the small woman smirking when she threw back her first glass.

"Please redneck. I can drink your ass under the table." She told him and he snorted.

"In your dreams beautiful." He replied as he sat on the counter next to his brother and they ate working on their bottles of much needed comfort. Everyone else tucking into their own food and drinks. Jacque, Dale and Carol were the only ones not drinking.

Daryl kept stealing glances at Arianna the whole time. God she was beautiful. Merle nailed it on the head when he called her that. He knew his brother and she wasn't his type so he didnt have to worry about him trying to make a move. Not to say if he would turn her down if she wanted it, he wasnt stupid but he could tell he thought of her as a sister. The asshole Shane however, eyed her with hunger when no one was looking and Daryl would put his fist through his pretty face if he tried anything with her. God hewished she was his, his to love and protect, maybe he'd see where he could take there relationship and see if just maybe she'd give him a chance. Not that he thought she would but what the hell. The world ended so he might as well give it a shot.

They all got a good laugh in when Carl ask to taste his mom's wine. She refused until Dale spoke up.

"You know in Italy they allow kids younger than him to drink wine." He told her and she glared at him.

"Well when he's in Italy he can drink what he wants until then no." she said and Carl groaned begging for a taste. After a look from Rick she relented allowing him a small taste.

They all laughed out loud as the spit it out.

"Gross." He told them and Lori took her glass back.

"That's my boy." She told him.

"Best stick to soda pop kid." Shane said smiling but Ari could tell the smile didn't go to his eyes. She didn't like this guy. She had seen some of the dark looks that crossed his face when he looked at Rick, Lori and Carl. She had seen that enough on her father's face. He was a bad man and she would keep her eyes on him.

"Not you Glenn." She heard Daryl say and she looked back to see him come over to the table, Merle with him and they sat next to Ari and Abby.

"What." Glenn ask looking confused where he was bent over the table putting his wine bottle back.

"Keep the bottle. I want to see how red your face can get." He joked and everyone laughed glad that the rednecks were at least being nice to everyone. They seemed calmer now that Ari and Abby had joined them and they were all grateful to her.

"When are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here doc?" Shane said with a scowl on his face. Arianna shot him a look but he just gave her a small glare as they all turned back to the doctor who had been sitting quietly until now.

"The rest couldn't handle walking out of the door" he said, "They...opted out. I stayed in the hope that I could do something good"

" You are such a buzz kill, man" drunk Glenn said.

"Asshole." Merle snorted next to Arianna but Shane heard and glared at him. It was no secret that he hated the rednecks.

The rest of dinner was eaten in silence. After dinner, Jenner took the group to the living quarters, and showing them the rec rooms.

"There's no beds left since the living quarters have been shut down but there are several office's you can take. They have couches that are very comfy and some cots down the hall if you need them. You'll have to bunk together as there aren't many. Oh an go easy on the hot water." He told them before leaving to his own room.

The group stopped in the middle of the hall and stared in wonder.

"Did he say HOT water?" Glenn ask smiling.

"That's what the man said." T Dodd replied grinning like a fool. All of them smiling as well. It had been a long time since any of them had hot water to shower.

"Ok we need to bunk. Lori, Carl and I will take this one." Rick said.

"Carol, Jacque, Sophia and I can take this one and get a couple of the cots." Andrea said and the other ladies nodded.

"You can bunk with me honey." Shane whispered in Ari's ear. She jumped and glared at him.

"I don't think so. You anit my type baby." She hissed and he sneered at her taking a drink of his bottle, looking her up and down.

"You sure." he ask her and she gave him the finger.

"She and little bit with bunk with us in there. Bro get some cots." Merle said giving Shane a death glare before steering Arianna and Abby into their room and slamming the door as Daryl nodded and went to retrieve two cots, glaring at the asshole cop as well.

"Jerk." Arianna mumbled as she threw her bag on the floor of the very large office.

"I don't like the way he looks at ya. Something not right about that ass. Steer clear." Merle told her just as Daryl came in and sat the two cots on the floor. Arianna nodded going over to the closet opening it to find several blankets and a few pillows. She pulled them out for later.

"No problem. Cant stand the man. I've seen men like him. The look in his eye when he thinks no one if looking. He's got issues I want no part in." she said.

"Damn who's office was this. Shit." Daryl said looking around and Ari snorted. It was a big ass office.

"Who knows? Bigger than my apartment was through. Well I don't know about you two but I'm about to die for a hot shower. Come on boo." She told Abby as she grabbed their bags. She wanted to be able to clean their clothes while in the shower.

"It's over here." Merle said opening the door to the bathroom. Inside was a shower stall.

"Yall go first. Well set up in here and go after." Daryl told them and they nodded before heading in the shower.

While Abby showered Arianna cleaned all their dirty clothes real good and hung them to dry before taking a nice hot shower herself.

They didn't stay too long knowing the men needed to clean up just as much. Once they were done they opened then bathroom door to see Merle and Daryl had set up the cots and pulled the bed out from the couch and divided up the blankets and pillows.

"Were done. If you want leave all your dirty clothes in the floor in there and I'll wash them and hang them up when you're done." She told them and they nodded before taking turns to take their showers while Ari and Abby waited.

When they were both done Ari went in and washed their clothes as well. It didn't take long since none of them had a whole lot of clothes and she hung them around the office to dry before finishing off her drink she had.

"Let's go check out this game room he told us about. I'm not ready for bed just yet." Arianna said and the boys nodded following both girls out of there room and down the hall.

Turns out there was two game/entertainment rooms. One with books and board games as well as a tv where Carol, Carl and Sophia were playing and another with a pool table and bar. Ari left Abby with Carol so she could play with the kids with a while until it was time for bed and Arianna went with the Dixons to shoot some pool. They were soon joined by Glenn and T dogg who were looking to have fun before bed as well.

They all enjoyed there night. Playing games and joking around like old friends. Prejudice and walkers aside Ari could tell everyone one starting to become a family in these troubled times and she was glad she joined there group.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"We win again." Arianna said in triumph as her and Daryl beat T and Glenn in another game of pool. Merle was standing to the side laughing his ass off and getting drunk waiting on his turn to play. T was pretty good at pool as were Daryl, Merle and Ari Glenn however sucked ass and couldn't sink in any balls.

"How the hell are you so good?" Glenn ask her, handing her pool stick to Merle to take his spot and play with T Dogg against the other two. Rick and Shane had came in and stayed for a while before Rick left and Shane stayed sulking in the corner, nursing his bottle of whiskey. The others pretty much ignored him and continued to have fun.

"I use to hustle in the local bar for extra cash on the side when I wasn't teaching." She said taking her first shot to break the balls. Daryl was behind her getting a nice view of her ass as she bent over and she knew he was looking and smirked.

"Guess I was always good and handling balls." She added with a wink to Daryl and laughed when Glenn blushed and Merle laughed out loud. Daryl just smirked at her in return, the flirting was fun.

"Um. Well." Glenn stuttered and the others laughed at him. Arianna clapped him on the shoulder as Merle took his shot.

"So you were a hustler huh? What did you teach?" Daryl ask her when she sat next to him.

"Hum. Oh self defense and Zumba. I also use to tend bar. Just whatever to pay the bills you know. Abby's mother help get me the bar tending job where she worked and her dad use to teach kick boxing and shit like that at the gym. So he got me into the martial arts and Zumba. It just went from there." She told him and he nodded. Loving learning new shit about this girl that had captured his attention.

"Zumba huh. Anit that the sexy dancing shit?" Merle ask. Ari looked over to see him smirking at her. She saw Shane leaving out of the corner of her eye and nodded.

"Yep." She replied popping the P at the end before taking another shot.

"Care to give us a show?" Merle ask her and Daryl slapped him on the back of the head as the others laughed.

"There anit enough liquor in this place redneck." She told him shaking her head. Merle was a big flirt and he was cute but not her type. Daryl on the other hand. She'd love to show that country boy a good time.

A knock on the door brought their laughter to a stop. They looked up to see Abby standing there looking tired.

"Ari. I'm going to bed now. Carl and Sophia are still sitting with Mrs. Carol. But I'm sleepy." She told her.

"Ok boo. I'll be right in to tuck you in. Go straight to the room ok." Ari told her. Abby nodded before slipping back out and heading to their room.

"I'll be back. Need to tuck her in." she told the others handing her pool stick to Glenn to play in her place. Laughing at the look on Daryl's face now that he had to play with Glenn she slipped out of the room and rounded the corner to see something that made her blood boil.

Shane the asshole had Abby by the upper arms and was saying something to her and Abby was crying and scared.

"Hey." Arianna yelled running down the hall and snatching Abby from Shane's hand.

"What the fuck is going on." She ask putting herself between her and Abby.

"I'm sorry Ari. I knocked into him on the way to the room and spilled his drink. I didn't mean to." She said crying.

"Abby's go back to the game room with Merle and Daryl." She told her god daughter never taking her murderous glare off Shane, who was leaning against the wall staring at her.

Abby nodded and ran fast down the hall. She was going to get Mr. Merle and Daryl to help her god mother before them mean guy hurt her too.

"Let's get something straight right the fuck now. If you ever put your hands on her again in anyways, I'll cut them off and feed them to you. Hell don't even fucking look or talk to her got it." Arianna said getting in Shane's face. He glared at her.

"You'd rather her be around redneck trailer trash, then someone like me." he hissed and Arianna nodded.

"Hell yeah. I know the kind of man you are and I want nothing to do with someone like you. Stay the fuck away from my god daughter. I'll kill you if you ever touch her again." She threaten and Shane snapped. He grabbed her by the neck and slammed her into the wall opposite of him.

"How about I touch you instead." He whispered into her ear as he restrained her from fighting back and went to skim his lips down her neck.

Daryl and Merle looked up when the little 10 year old burst through the door in tears.

"Mr. Merle, Mr. Daryl please. Help Ari." She said throwing herself in Daryl's arms. T and Glenn had left right after Ari so it was just the two of them left in the room.

"What happened?" Merle ask wondering what the hell could have happened in a matter of a few minutes.

"Shane." Was all she said between sobs. Daryl and Merle ran out of the room with Abby right behind them. They rounded the corner to see Shane slam her into the wall by her neck, pin her hands and move to kiss her neck while she tried to use her self defense knowledge to get out of his grasp.

Daryl and Merle saw red. Daryl walked over, removed his knife from his belt, grabbed the bastard by the back of the neck and slammed him to the ground, holding his knife to his neck he hissed.

"If I ever see you touch her or that girl again I'll gut you like the animal you are. Got me." he said and Arianna could hear how menacing and protective he sounded and she fell for him even more.

Merle walked over keeping Abby before kicking the pig in the side.

"Best heed his warning pig." Merle told him and Shane nodded, gasping for breathing.

"Fine, sorry." he gasp before crawling down the hall to his room, not looking back.

Ari hugged Abby to her as the two rednecks turned to them and ushered them into their room.

"Are you ok?" Daryl ask her looking her over. She didn't have any marks on her and didn't appear to have hit her head to hard on the wall. Nodding she hugged them both.

"Thanks for coming." She told them and they nodded.

"What happened?" Merle ask.

"I came to tuck Abby in to find him standing in the hall grabbing onto Abby's arms and yelling at her. I guess she bumped into him and spilled his drink and it pissed him off. I sent Abby to you guys and told him if he ever touched her again I'd kill him." She said and both men growled in anger at what Shane did to Abby and then what they saw him do to Arianna. They'd have to watch that fucker for sure.

"You two go on and head to bed sugar." Merle told them and Arianna nodded as Merle slipped into the bath room to piss as Daryl locked the door and put a chair behind it just in case the cop wanted to get froggy again and get himself killed.

"Thanks." Arianna told Daryl as he turned around and faced her. She leaned up and planted a kiss on his lips before pulling back and climbing into bed with Abby.

Daryl stood there and smirked, his lips burning from her touch. Another step in the right direction for him. She liked him, he could tell and he would do whatever he could to make her his and keep her and the little girl safe.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The next morning Arianna and Abby woke before Merle and Daryl. They showered again taking advantage of the hot water and moved around the room collecting all there clean, dry laundry and folding it up. By the time they were done they were starving but didn't want to leave without the Dixon's first.

"Ari how are we going to get them up. Look there snoring." Abby said smiling when Merle let out a really loud snore. Chuckling she smirked and went to Merle first leaning down she blew in his ear and had to bite her lip to stop laughing as he moaned in his sleep.

"Hey Merle. Get your ass up. Were hungry." Arianna said in his ear, groaning he shot her the bird.

"Go way. Sleeping." He mumbled. Huffing she stood up and jumped landing on his stomach. He gasp loudly groaning and cursing.

"Bitch. Alright I'm up. Shit." He told her as he gently shoved her off him and sat up sticking his tongue out at a laughing Abby.

"You going to get my dumb ass brother up the same way." Merle ask her taking a drink of water she handed him.

"Naw. I got a different way to wake him up." She said chuckling as she walked over towards Daryl. Merle leaned back in his bed and smirked. This girl was going to keep his little brother on his toes. That's for sure.

Arianna was just about to Daryl when she heard a small knock on the door. Opening it she saw Carol standing there with Carl and Sophia.

"Morning we were heading down for breakfast and they wanted to see if Abby would join them." Carol told her smiling. Arianna nodded and Abby ran out the door to head for breakfast with her two best friends.

"Now time to wake Daryl." Arianna told Merle who laughed.

Arianna walked over to the man who she was very attracted to. She carefully straddle is lap and leaned down to whisper in his ear.

"Wake up sexy it's time for breakfast." She said in a low sexy voice. Little did she knew Daryl had been awake for a while secretly watching the two girls fold the laundry. When she woke his brother up he had to bite the inside of his cheeks to stop from laughing and he held still to see how she'd wake him. He wasn't disappointed. She feel of her straddling him made him instantly hard.

Ari gasp in shock when she felt his arms come around her waist and he flipped them over to where he was now hovering over her. She looked up and saw his smirked face looking down at her but she could see the lust in his eyes and it made her shiver.

"Do you wake up every one that way?" he ask her and she shook her head.

"Nope just you." She told him her hands gripping his blankets to stop herself from running her hands up his strong arms.

"Good." He purred before leaning down and nuzzling her neck running his nose along her collarbone and she shivered in pleasure.

"Damn sugar why didn't I get a wakeup call like that." Merle said breaking them out of there trance. Daryl sighed at his cock blocking brother who was now heading to the bathroom.

"Sorry about him." Daryl said but was cut off when Arianna surprised him by leaning up and capturing his lips in a kiss. She pulled back quickly looking at him. They stared at each other for a moment before he grabbed her hair and kissed her again forcing her back to the bed as he settled over top her kissing her with all the pent up passion he had been feeling since he met her.

Arianna was in heaven the feel of his warm strong lips against hers had him instantly wet as she wrapped her legs around his waist and moaning when he automatically thrusted against her with a moan of his own.

Fuck she tasted good and he could feel the heat from between her legs and he wanted nothing more than to rip her clothes off and bury balls deep inside her but with Merle about to walk in on them that wouldn't be good so he just enjoyed kissing her instead.

"Damn boy. Get it." Merle hollered as he opened the door and saw his brother wrap around Ari. About time his brother grew a pair.

"Shut up Merle." Daryl said rolling his eyes. He placed one more kiss to Arianna's lips before hopping off the bed and headed for the shower. He needed to work out some tension.

Merle smirked as Arianna laid there breathing deeply for a moment before blushing at the smirk on Merle's face.

"Speechless sugar." He said and she flipped him off before rolling out the bed and leaving to head to breakfast with Abby while trying to control her heart that was pounding in her chest.

Daryl was her's alright. She'd make sure of it.

"Morning." Rick said coming into the room where they were eating breakfast. Daryl and Merle right behind him. They took a seat on each side of Arianna and Daryl gave her a wink when she looked at him and blushed before she winked back.

"Are you hungover?" Carl asked. "Mom said you'd be."

"Mom is right." Rick said.

"Mom has that annoying habit." Lori said.

"Eggs." T-Dog said walking over. "Powdered but I do 'em good." Glenn moaned. "I bet you can't tell. Protein helps the hangover." He said putting some eggs on Glenn's plate. Arianna laughed at the look on Glenn's face. He was fucked this morning.

"Can't handle the hard stuff buddy." She ask him and he groaned again causing everyone to laugh at him.

"How are you not feeling as bad as me?" Glenn ask watching as she shoved eggs in her mouth.

"I can hold my liquor that's why." She said and he rolled his eyes when the Dixon's laughed at his pain.

"Where'd all this come from?" Rick asked holding up a thing of pills before taking some and handing the bottle to Glenn.

"Jenner." Lori said.

"He thought we could use it." She told him and he nodded.

"Some of us, at least."

"Don't ever ever ever let me drink again." Glenn moaned.

"Hey." Shane said walking in. Abby and Ari tensed when they saw him. Everyone else was shocked. He looked like hell. His face was bruised and he had scratches on his neck that Ari knew she didn't put there and he was holding his ribs from where Merle kicked him.

"Hey." Rick said. "Feel as bad as I do?"

"Worse." He told his friend pouring a cup of coffee and sitting as far away from Arianna and the Rednecks as he could.

"What the fuck happened to you. Look like you got into a fight." T dogg ask when they got a good look at him and Merle snorted.

"Cause he did. He got grabby with Abby and Ari last night and we put him in his place. Through i don't know where the scathes came from." Merle said before taking a sip of his drink. Everyone looked at the two girls and back at Shane who looked ashamed and shared a pity look with Lori when they mentioned his scratches.

"Shane?" Rick questioned.

"Yeah sorry about that guys. Don't know what happened." Shane said shrugging and Arianna just rolled her eyes. She hated him.

"Just member our warning." Daryl growled before going back to eating. He'd keep his girls away from that asshole. His girls. He liked that. He thought as he laid his hand on Ari's thigh. She smiled back at him and he relaxed glad she like his touch as much as he liked hers.

"Morning." Jenner said walking in distracting everyone from leaning that Shane had done something to Ari and Abby that caused the Dixons to beat his ass.

"Hey, doc." Shane said.

"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing..." Dale said.

"But you will anyway."

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea said rudely.

Everyone went back to the computer room with Jenner.

"Give me playback of TS-19." Jenner sad.

"Few people ever got a chance to see this." Jenner said as images of a brain showed on the screen. "Very few."

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked.

"An extraordinary one."

"Not that it matters in the end. Take us in for E.I.V.."

"Enhanced internal view."

"What are those lights?" Shane asked.

"It's a person's life..." Jenner said. " experiences, memories. It's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you... the thing that makes you unique. And human."

"You don't make sense ever?" Daryl asked from Arianna's side where she was standing with Abby in front of her. She had a bad feeling that they weren't about to get good news and she was glad she had packed up all their things this morning in case they had to leave.

"Those are synapses, electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death." Jenner said.

"Death? That's what this is, a vigil?" Rick asked.

"Yes."

"Or rather the playback of the vigil."

"This person died?" Andrea asked. "Who?"

"Test subject 19. Someone who was bitten and infected. And volunteered to have us record the process. Vi, scan forward to the first event."

"What is that?" Glenn asked.

"It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs." The person stopped moving as the brain went black. "Then death. Everything you ever were or ever will be... Gone." Jenner told him as they watched in shock.

"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked.

"Yes." Carol said.

"The resurrection times vary wildly." Jenner said. "We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute... Seven seconds."

"It restarts the brain?" Lori asked.

"No, just the brain stem. Basically, it gets them up and moving."

"But they're not alive?" Rick said. Jenner gestured to the screen.

"You tell me."

"It's nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark."

"Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part... That doesn't come back. The _you_ part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct." Suddenly something shot across the image of the brain.

"God. What was that?" Carol asked.

"He shot his patient in the head." Andrea said. "Didn't you?"

"Vi, power down the main screen and the workstations." Jenner said.

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea said.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal." Jenner said.

"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui asked.

"There is that." Jenner said.

"Somebody must know something." Andrea said. "Somebody somewhere."

"There are others, right? Other facilities?" Lori asked.

"There may be some. People like me."

"But you don't know? How can you not know?" Rick asked.

"Everything went down." Jenner said. "Communications, directives... all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month."

"So it's not just here." Andrea said. "There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?" Jenner was silent. "Jesus."

"Man, I'm gunna get shit-faced drunk again." Daryl said rubbing his face. And Ari nodded along with him and Merle.

"Dr. Jenner," Dale said. "I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but... That clock..." Dale pointed to a digital clock that had an hour left. "It's counting down. What happens at zero?"

"The basement generators... they run out of fuel." And Ari felt a sense of dread.

"And then?" Rick asked. "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur." Everyone looked at each other.

"We need to leave." Ari whispered to Daryl and Merle and they knew she was right. This had been a mistake coming here.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Rick, Shane, Glenn and T-dogg all headed down to the basement to see what was going on while all the others retreated back to their rooms. Arianna made sure all of their things were packed and by the door ready to grab in case they needed it. Then she started to pace.

Something was wrong she could feel it. She felt like she was trapped and she hated that feeling since she was young and her father use to trap her in the basement when he didn't want to see her.

"Ari you alright sugar?" Merle ask when she hadn't said a word and was wearing a hole in the carpet. Abby had gone to play with Sophia and Carl since Arianna didn't want to worry Abby right now and watching her panic would have worried her.

"Hell no." She told him and he raised a brow at her for an explanation.

"Something's wrong. We need to leave. I feel like I'm trapped down here and I hate feeling like that. Since I was young and my father would lock me in the basement for hours or sometimes days I've always had an issue with the feeling of helplessness or being trapped." She told them as she paced and fidgeted around the room.

Daryl and Merle frowned as the thought about what she said. The more they learned about her the more they realized how similar her past was from there's.

Before they could try and comfort her the AC went off and Arianna became even more paniced.

"What the fuck." Merle ask standing and opening the door. He saw that everyone else was also confused and sticking their heads out the doors watching as the Dr walked down the hall drinking from a bottle.

"What's going on? Why is everything turned off?" Daryl asked but was ignored at first as they started to follow him down the hall. Abby ran and walked next to Arianna now that she was starting to get worried too.

"Doc." Merle ask again.

"Energy use is being prioritized." Jenner said.

"Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale asked.

"It's not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down." He said.

"Hey!" Daryl said. "Hey, what the hell does that mean?" Everyone followed Jenner. "Hey man, I'm talking to you. What do you mean it's shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?"

"You'd be surprised." Jenner said as Rick and the others came up from the basement. Daryl grabbed Ari's hand and pulled her behind him along with Abby as they chased after Jenner.

"Rick?" Lori asked looking over the railing. Everyone went down the stairs to meet them.

"Officer something's up." Merle called down to him as they saw him coming towards them. Nodding to Merle Rick ran up to Jenner.

"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick asked.

"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule…" Jenner said. "It was the French."

"What?" Andrea asked.

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution." He told her as they all came towards the room with the computers again.

"What happened?" Jacqui asked.

"The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs of fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?" Jenner said and Arianna could tell he was out of his mind at this moment and she gripped Daryl hand in fear as she pulled Abby towards her.

"Let me tell you..." Shane said getting up on the platform Jenner was on. Rick pulled him back.

"To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care." Rick said. "Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!"

Everyone turned and started to head to the rooms. Until the alarms started blaring.

"What's that?" Shane asked.

"What's that?" Carl asked.

"Ari I'm scared." Abby said as she covered her ears.

"I know baby." She told her holding her close trying not to panic. Arianna was a strong women but even strong women need strong men at time and right now she stayed as close as she could to Daryl and Merle.

"30 minutes to decontamination." Vi said as a countdown appeared on the main screen.

"Doc, what's going on here?" Daryl asked letting Ari's hand go and walking towards the doctor.

"Everybody, y'all heard Rick." Shane shouted.

"Get your stuff and let's go! Go now! Go!" T-Dog yelled. "Let's go.

"Come on!" Glenn said. Suddenly the doors were sealed,

"No." Arianna whispered when she heard the doors slam shut and she turned and looked towards Daryl with pure fear on her face.

No." Glenn said. "Did you just lock us in? He just locked us in!" Jenner turned on his video recorder.

"We've hit the 30-minute window. I am recording." Jenner started speaking.

"Carl." Lori yelled as everyone ran back.

"Mom!"

"You son of a bitch." Daryl said heading for Jenner, the fear of Ari and Abby's face was enough to make him fume in anger at the doctor and he wanted to kill him.

"You let us out of here!" Daryl shouted and Merle grabbed him and held him back as his brother started to panic.

"We'll never get out if you kill him little brother." Merle said trying to keep a level head right now. The girls didn't need to see them panic too. Daryl shrugged him off and went towards the door, grabbing the axe Shane tossed him they worked together to try and bust the door open.

"Hey, Jenner, open that door now." Rick said going over to him.

"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down." Jenner told him.

"Well, open the damn things." Dale said.

"That's not something I control. The computers do. I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that. It's better this way." Jenner said.

"What is?" Rick asked. "What happens in 28 minutes?"

"Come on!" Daryl shouted as he hit the door repeatedly.

"You know what this place is?!" Jenner shouted standing up. "We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" He sat back down. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure... in a terrorist attack, for example... H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."

"H.I.T.s?" Rick asked.

"Vi, define."

"Hits... high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consists of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear."

"Oh god." Carol cried hugging Sophia. Ari doing the same to Abby. Abby was crying now as all the commotion was getting to them and Arianna was starting to get pissed.

"The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5,000° and 6,000°" Rick, Lori and Carl hugged. "and is used when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."

"It sets the air on fire." Jenner said. "No pain. An end to sorrow, grief... Regret. Everything.".

"Open the damn door!" Daryl shouted and Arianna looked towards him and watched as he tired to break the door open, but it wouldn't budge.

"Don't worry sugar. Well be alright." Merle told Arianna and Abby as he walked past them to try and help his brother.

"You should've left well enough alone. It would've been so much easier." Jenner said.

"Easier for who?" Lori asked.

"All of you. You know what's out there... A short, brutal life and an agonizing death. Your... your sister... what was her name?" Jenner ask Andrea.

"Amy." Andrea said.

"Amy." Jenner repeated. "You know what this does. You've seen it. Is that really what you want for your wife and son?"

"I _don't want this__."_ Rick said. Shane and Daryl stopped hitting the door and Shane went over to Rick.

"Can't make a dent." Shane said.

"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher." Jenner told them.

"Well, your head ain't!" Daryl said pulling back the axe and moving to swing at Jenner. Merle stopped him taking the axe from him.

"Calm the fuck down. You're scaring your girls." Merle told him and Daryl looked over towards Arianna and Abby and saw he was right. They were terrified.

To everyone's shock Daryl went over and pulled both Arianna and Abby into his arms and hugged them tight. Trying to do whatever he could to make them feel better.

"You do want this." Jenner said standing up. "Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead."

"What? You really said that?" Shane asked. "After all your big talk?"

"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" Rick asked.

"There is no hope." Jenner said. "There never was."

"There's always hope." Rick said. "Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody somewhere..."

"What part of "everything is gone" do you not understand?" Andrea asked sitting down on the floor in defeat.

"Listen to your friend. She gets it." Jenner said. "This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event."

"You're fucking crazy, you know that." Merle spat at him. Arianna pulled away from Daryl and started to pace for a moment. He let her and just kept Abby in his arms. Before anyone could do anything Arianna had flew across the room towards Jenner grabbed him by his shirt and slammed her fist into his face.

"You fucking asshole. Open the god damn door." She yelled and Merle ran over since Daryl had his hands full with Abby. He shoved Shane away from her when he tried to grab her and picked Arianna up around the waist and carried her back towards Daryl.

"Easy sugar. We all want to kill him but if you beat him to death well never get out." Merle told her in her ear as he sat her on the ground in front of Daryl. She nodded and let Daryl wrap her back in his arms.

"Easy killer. I got ya." He told her as she cried out her frustration.

"This isn't right." Carol cried. "You can't just keep us here."

"One tiny moment... a millisecond. No pain." Jenner said.

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this." Carol cried. Shane went over and grabbed a rifle.

"Wouldn't it be kinder, more compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?" Shane cocked the rifle

"Shane, no!"

"Out of the way, Rick! Arianna and Daryl got the right idea." Shane pushed Rick away. "Stay out of my way! Open that door or I'm gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?!"

"Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this." Rick said.

"We will never get out of here."

"Shane, you listen to him." Lori said.

"It's too late. He dies, we all..." Suddenly Shane started yelling. "…We all die! Shane!" Suddenly Shane turned and pointed his gun at the computer and shooting them. "Shane!" Rick grabbed the gun and knocked Shane down.

"Are you done now? Are you done?"

"Yeah, I guess we all are."

"I think you're lying." Rick said.

"What?" Jenner asked.

"You're lying about no hope. If that were true, you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?"

"It doesn't matter."

"It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?"

"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise... To her. My wife."

"Test subject 19 was your wife?" Lori asked.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?" Jenner said and Arianna was only half listening now.

"She was dying." Jenner continued. "It should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just... Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me." Jenner said and Arianna realized now what had turned him crazy. Seeing his wife die.

"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's... that's all we want... a choice, a chance." Rick said.

"Let us keep trying as long as we can." Lori said.

"I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those." Jenner walked away over to a little gadget on a nearby table. He scanned a card and entered something. Suddenly the doors went down

"Come on!" Daryl said grabbing Arianna and Abby's hands and running towards the door with Merle behind them. They stopped by there rooms and grabbed the bags thanking god that Ari had them packed before hand and they ran up the stairs towards the entrance, hoping they could figure out how the hell to get out before the clock struck zero.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Daryl!" Rick said running over to a window. Daryl let go of Arianna and Abby and went over to help Rick try and break the glass with the Axe Rick handed him.

"Stay close, sweetheart." Carol said as she stayed close to Arianna and Abby.

"Daryl, look out!" T-Dog came up with a chair and tried to break the window.

"Dog, get down! Get down!" Shane said going over with a shot gun. He shot the window but it did nothing. "Jesus."

"The glass won't break?" Sophia asked.

"Rick, I have something that might help." Carol said going over reaching into her bag.

"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it." Shane said.

"Oh yeah. Be a dick when were about to dick. That's real helpful." Arianna snapped at the cop how just glared at her but turned his head when Merle shot him a look.

"Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform" Carol said. "I found this in your pocket." She said holding a grenade with a smile towards Arianna for defending her.

"Carol you're an angel." Rick told her taking the grenade as everyone ran for cover. Daryl pushed Ari and Abby to the ground as he and Merle covered them with their bodies.

"Cover your ears little bit." Merle told Abby how nodded and did as he said.

"Look out!" Rick went over to the window and pulled the pin on the grenade.

"Oh... Shhhhit-" He yelled running.

"Get down! Get down!" The grenade went off and the glass shattered.

"Let's go." Daryl said pulling his girls up and he and Merle picked them up and helped them out the window. Arianna was finally able to breathe when she was no longer trapped inside the building and her head was clearer.

"Make a path for us." Rick yelled out and Arianna took out her sword and along with Daryl and Merle they ran ahead and sliced the heads off the walkers that were coming at them as they all ran towards their cars.

Daryl opened the door to his truck and pushed the girls in before throwing all there stuff in the back.

"Look." Abby yelled and they turned to see Dale and Andrea climbing out of the window as the others yelled for them to hurry.

"Get down." Merle yelled out as he and Daryl hit the pavement by the driver's side door just as the building blew.

"Shit." Arianna said as she and Abby ducked as the truck rocked with the force of the blow.

"Come on. Come on. Get in, get in, get in." Glenn said to Dale and Andrea when they all looked to see if they had survived. Once they were safely inside the RV Daryl climbed in the truck.

"Are yall ok?" Arianna ask as she saw Merle stand and straddle his bike. Nodding Daryl pulled her to his side as they followed Rick who was now driving the RV.

"Where to now?" Merle ask Rick as they stopped a few miles away to try and decide what to do next.

"Almost dark. Need somewhere to hold up till morning." Rick said as they all gathered around the RV.

"What about the Vatos. There not far from here. Maybe they let us stay the night." Daryl suggested. Rick thought for a moment and nodded.

Once they got there they knew something was wrong. Walkers were everywhere and the guards on top of the buildings were gone.

"Where's the guards." Glenn ask and Rick shrugged as they slowly made their way inside without alerting any walkers.

Sophia was beyond scared and keep whimpering loudly.

"shut that kid up." Daryl hissed to Carol who clamped a hand over Sophia's mouth as Andrea glared at him.

"Shane, Daryl, Merle, Arianna and I will do a sweep. Everyone else stay here and stay quite." Rick ordered and they all nodded. Ari handed Abby off to Carol as she grabbed her sword and followed the guys down the halls room by room as they killed all the walkers that were left.

"We should be safe for the night." Rick said as he gathered everyone in the larger room.

"You mean it this time. Or are you lying like before?" Carol snapped clearly upset about the CDC.

"That's not fair and no help at all." Lori told her back in Rick's defense and Carol backed down and just hugged Sophia to her more.

"What the hell happened?" Glenn wondered, looking around lost.

"What do you think?" Andrea shrugged as though she had all of the answers, "They got overrun."

Daryl, Merle and Ari scoffed and she turned on them.

"You got something to say?" she demanded.

"Yeah. How about 'observant'?" Daryl replied looking at her like she was an idiot.

"Observant? Big word from a guy like you. Three whole syllables," Andrea snapped. Daryl rolled his eyes.

"Oh don't be a bitch. Walkers didn't do this that much is obvious. If you opened your fucking eyes long enough to see something other than yourself you might notice that all of these were shot. Last time I checked Walkers could shot guys." Arianna told her and Andrea shut up seeing that she was right.

"Walkers didn't do this. Geeks didn't show up 'til all this went down. Somebody attacked this place, killed all these people, and took whatever they wanted. They're all shot in the head execution-style. Y'all worried about walkers? I'd be much more worried about the people who came and did all this. Get a dictionary. Look it up. Observant," Daryl told her, pointing to his head with a glare and grabbing Ari's hand and dragging her and Abby along with Merle out of the room while the others stand around and realize he was right.

"Stupid people." Merle mumbled as they walked down the hall and into a smaller room that Rick had decided would be where they slept for the night.

"We'll stay here for the night and head out in the morning. Will need to down size to less cars but will talk about that then. For now will take turns keeping watch." Rick said and they all nodded. Daryl, Merle and Ari volunteered for first watch needing to get away for the others for a while.

Four hours later Rick, Shane and T dog came and relived them. Arianna went in and laid down next to Abby pulling her against her chest and letting the little girl snuggle into her. Merle nodded to Daryl as he lay by the door. Daryl decided to hell with what everyone else thought and laid down on the other side of Ari and pulled her to his chest. She relaxed against him and they fell asleep for a few hours before there long journey the next day.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Okay we need to down size. Shane and T can yall part with your vehicles?" Rick ask them and they nodded going to clean their stuff out and get whatever gas was left.

"Where's Merle?" Rick ask Daryl who shrugged. He hadn't seen Merle for about 30 minutes since he said he was going around the corner to take a piss.

"Right here. Got a solution. Daryl can leave his truck and ride this." Merle said walking a really nice Harley alongside him. Merle already had his bike to ride but Daryl's truck sucked to much gas and he knew his brother wasn't going to want to ride with the others.

"Hell yeah." Daryl said walking over to look at the bike. It was like the bike he was working on building before the world went to hell.

"Me and Ari can ride this. Abby can go with Carl and Sophia so she anit bored." Daryl said looking towards Arianna for her opinion she nodded and went to store their stuff in the back of Carol's jeep and got Arianna settled in with her friends.

"Ever ridden before?" Daryl ask her as he straddled his new bike. She smirked as he helped her on behind him.

"Yep. Never rode bitch though." She said and he chuckled before they started up and rode out towards Fort Benning.

Several hours later Arianna was loving riding on the back of the bike with her arms wrapped around Daryl. Daryl too was enjoying it. He never took a woman on a bike before but he couldn't imagine riding with her now.

"Damn." Daryl said when he saw the road block ahead. He and Merle slowed down and looked around before he doubled back to the RV where Dale was waiting.

_"_See a way through?" Dale asked. Daryl nodded his head back towards the cars blocking the way. Merle and Daryl led the group slowly around the cars until they heard the RV hiss and them stall.

"Fuck." Daryl said as he and Merle shut their bikes off and he held out his hand to help Arianna down as the others filed out of the cars.

"I said it. Didn't I say it?" Dale said storming out of his RV. "A thousand times. Dead in the water."

"Problem, Dale?" Rick asked looking around.

"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of—" Daryl walked around a random car and reached in pulling out something. "Okay, that was dumb."

"If you can't find a radiator hose here..." Daryl said pulling out more stuff. "There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find."

"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-Dog said and Rick nodded to him.

"Maybe some water." Carol said.

"Or food."

"This is a graveyard." Lori said. "I don't know how I feel about this."

"Come on, y'all. Just look around, gather what you can." Shane said.

Arianna rolled her eyes at the chick before grabbing Abby and following behind Daryl and Merle as they walked ahead of the group and started to shift through the cars looking for anything they may need.

"Ari can I go with Carl?" Abby ask when she saw the other two kids walking alone ahead of their mom's.

"Not this time boo. Stay with us ok." She said and Abby nodded before helping Arianna pull some things out of the car they were looking in.

"Shit." She heard Merle hiss about 20 minutes later before she felt Daryl's hand pushing her to the ground.

"Herd's coming. Get under and stay quite." He whispered. Nodding she grabbed Abby and shoved her under the car. Taking out her sword in case she needed it she slide under with Abby and wrapped her arms around her god daughter, pulling her face to hide it into her chest.

"Even breathes in and out. Don't make a sound honey and stay still." She told her and the little girl nodded.

Ari saw Merle and Daryl had slide under a truck together and was looking at her and Abby with wide eyes hoping they wouldn't be found.

Arianna tensed as the walker feets shuffled by and she kept one hand on her sword at all times. No one was getting to Abby while she was alive.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Daryl curse under his breath and slide out from under the car. T it seemed had sliced his arm real good, bleeding everywhere attracting the walkers to him. Daryl stabbed the walker before laying it over T dogg to mast his scent before doing the same to himself.

Once she was sure the walkers she slide out from under the car pulling Abby with her. Merle and Daryl walked over and pulled T dog off the ground.

"Damn that's deep." Merle said when he looked at T's arm. Arianna grabbed a clean shirt out of the pile they had collected and wrapped it around his arm.

"We need to see if Dale has a first aid kit. He's going to need stitches." She said and they nodded, helping the man up as they walked to join the rest of the group.

"Oh Lori. There's two walkers are after my baby." They heard Carol sob out and Abby gasp when they saw everyone gathered around the guard rail and Carol in tears. Sophia nowhere to be found. .

"What happened?" Ari ask as they sat T down and told Dale what happened to his arm.

"Sophia got spooked and ran in the woods. Two walkers followed. Rick went after them." Loir told her and Arianna cursed pacing again.

An hour later of everyone waiting in silence they heard footsteps and turned to see Rick coming back without Sophia.

"You didn't find her." Carol ask collapsing in Lori's arm's.

"She didn't make it back. I told her to come back to the road while I took care of the walkers." He said and they all shook their head.

"You should stay here with the others." Daryl told Arianna when he saw her tell Abby to stay in the RV till she returned. Daryl, Merle, Shane, Glenn and Rick volunteer to go back and look for Sophia and Ari it seemed was coming to.

Arianna looked at him and Merle and scoffed.

"Yeah right." She said before climbing the guard rail and sliding down towards where Rick was waiting.

Merle chuckled at his brother. He got him a head strong feisty one this time. She defiantly wasn't no mousey girl. Daryl just shook his head realizing she would always do what she wanted and he smiled. He liked that about her.

"Ya sure this is the spot?" Daryl asked as he and Merle scanned the ground for tracks. Arianna right alongside them. She wasn't nowhere near as good a tracker as the boys but she knew her way around the woods.

"I left her right here. I drew the walkers way off in that direction up the creek." Rick told them.

"Without a paddle seems where we've landed." Merle replied standing from his crouch and jumping down in the creek with his brother.

"She was gone by the time I got back here." Rick said. "I figured she just took off and ran back to the group. I told her go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder."

"Dude." They heard Arianna said and Daryl turned to see her glaring at Glenn who had no idea what he did.

"Hey, short round, why don't you step off to one side?" Daryl said to Glenn. _"_You're mucking up the trail." Glenn blushed before moving off to the side like he said and Arianna rolled her eyes. Some people were idiots.

"Assuming she knows her left from her right." Shane said.

"Shane, she understood me fine." Rick told his friend.

"Kid's tired and scared, man. She had her a close call with two walkers. Got to wonder how much of what you said stuck" Shane said looking at the others.

"Got clear prints right here." Daryl said pointing to where Merle was standing. "She did like you said, headed back to the highway. Let's spread out, make our way back. She couldn't have gone far._"_

They all followed Daryl and Merle as they tracked for about 15 minutes before stopping and kneeling down.

"She was doing just fine till right here. All she had to do was keep going. She veered off that way." Daryl told them pointing it out on the ground.

"Why would she do that?" Glenn asked.

"Maybe she saw something that spooked her, made her run off." Shane suggested.

"A walker?" Glenn asked. Daryl shook his head. "I don't see any other footprints. Just hers."

"So what do we do? All of us press on?" Shane ask and Rick shook his head.

"No, better if you and Glenn get back up to the highway." Rick said. "People are gonna start panicking. Let them know we're on her trail doing everything we can. But most of all, keep everybody calm."

"I'll keep 'em busy scavenging cars. Think up a few other chores. I'll keep 'em occupied." Shane said. "Come on." He said to Glenn and the two headed back to the highway.

Rick looked at Arianna to see if she would want to go with Shane and Glenn and she just raise an eye brow at him. Daring him to say something. Nodding to her in understanding he turned towards the two rednecks and followed as they continued to track, looking for Sophia.

"Tracks are gone." Rick said.

"No, they're faint, but they ain't gone." Daryl said. "She came through here."

"How can you tell?" Rick asked. "I don't see anything. Dirt, grass."

"You want a lesson in tracking or you want to find that girl and get our ass off that interstate?" Daryl ask him and Rick nodded.

Suddenly they heard leafs rustling and looked to see a lone walker. Rick ran ahead and got its attention by whistling. It roared before Daryl shot it with his crossbow. Merle and Arianna joined them as they looked as Rick searched the Walker for any signs of Sophia.

"Skin under the fingernails. It fed recently. There's flesh caught in its teeth." Rick told him and they all leaned down to look.

"Yeah, what kind of flesh?" Ari ask.

"Only one way to know for sure." Rick said ripping open the walkers shirt and taking out his knife gulping.

"Here, I'll do it." Daryl said. "How many kills you skin and gut in your life? Anyway, mine is sharper." He grunted as he stabbed the walker

"Now comes the bad part." He said before reaching in.

"Yeah, Hoss had a big meal not long ago. I feel it in there." Daryl said and Ari laughed as Rick gagged and about pucked. Merle just stood back clearly not affected by the blood and guts.

"Here's the gut bag."

"I got this." Rick said before cutting into it.

"This gross bastard had himself a woodchuck for lunch." Daryl said with half of a woodchuck skull on the end of his knife.

"At least we know."

"At least we know."


End file.
